Telecommunications and data transmission systems have evolved in recent years to accommodate the increasing demand for high speed, multi-media services. Accordingly, higher and higher frequencies are being transmitted across network infrastructure originally designed for lower frequency and volume throughput. Although present day cables and wiring, can, theoretically, handle such increased frequencies and traffic volume, the wiring paths themselves become, in effect, antennae that both radiate and receive electromagnetic radiation, thereby creating crosstalk problems. Crosstalk, i.e. the coupling of electromagnetic energy between adjacent conductors, is particularly problematic in systems incorporating multiple wire pairs. Unfortunately, the plugs and jacks that are most commonly used in interconnecting cables and hardware, such as distribution modules, generally include as many as eight wires (four wire pairs), and, in some instances, even more, that are necessarily oriented both parallel and close together, a condition that leads to excessive crosstalk, even over short distances, and which is exacerbated as the frequency of the signals or the data rate is increased.
Various techniques have been used for reducing crosstalk between pairs of wires in communication plugs and cables, such as shielding individual pairs, helically winding (twisted-pairs), or, where possible, increasing the physical separation of one pair from another. The crosstalk problem, however, cannot be solved through a simple minimization or reduction approach. While it may be desirable in future applications to eliminate virtually all crosstalk in a communication plug, legacy systems (i.e., current jacks and plugs) require a predetermined level of crosstalk in the plug for optimum performance. Legacy jacks are engineered to compensate for crosstalk in the communication plug; however, communication plugs have different crosstalk characteristics caused by variations introduced during the assembly process thereby resulting in variations in crosstalk compensation. Thus what is sought are communication plugs with uniform crosstalk characteristics, so as to consistently compliment the crosstalk engineered into the legacy jacks, and, thereby, optimizing high speed data transmission through the network.